Manny Pacquiao will return against Mario Barrios on July 19th in his first fight in four years.
Manny Pacquiao was unsuccessful in his last attempt at a comeback in 2021, when he dropped a unanimous decision loss to Yordenis Ugas.
Now, at the age of 46, Pacquiao will challenge for a world title against world champion Mario Barrios, who has defeated Ugas already.
Pacquiao is looking to claim his first win in six years, with his last coming against Keith Thurman in 2019.
Manny Pacquiao met Mario Barrios at a basketball court
In an interview with Cigar Talk, Pacquiao revealed that he made the fight by meeting Barrios at a basketball game and discussing terms in person, directly.
Naji of Cigar Talk said to Pac-Man: “You saw each other at the basketball game and then they said you all went in a room to actually talk privately, to see about making the fight. Can you tell me about that?”
Pacquiao responded: “It just happened that we met and then we talked and then ‘let’s have the fight’.”
He revealed the talk was fairly simple, as both men wanted the fight to get made.
Manny Pacquiao has scored one KO in 16 years
Pacquiao, who KO’d Fahprakorb Rakkiatgym, has had 17 fights since 2009, and won 12 of them.
Of these wins, though, just one has been a KO victory for Pac-Man, despite his record boasting 39 total knockout wins.
Pacquiao’s nine-year knockout drought after his win over Miguel Cotto ended in 2018 against Lucas Matthysse in Kuala Lumpur, with Pac-Man winning via seventh-round KO.